After Mysore I went back to the coast of Kerala, this time to the town of Kochi. Well, I actually stayed in the more modern and untouristy Ernakulam, which was considerably cheaper, but from there it was a 30-minute walk and 6p ferry ride to get across to the island of Kochi. The Portuguese navigator Vasco de Gama arrived in Kochi in 1502. He died and was initially buried there (in 1524), but with the remains later transferred to Lisbon. The church where he was originally buried is still there, and is one of several churches to be visited in this place.
Kochi is famous for the Chinese fishing nets, which one is ‘supposed to’ photograph at sunset – see introductory picture. The mechanism for getting the nets in and out of the water involves lots of small rocks attached to one part of the net mechanism, and it is quite a physical performance for the fishermen to raise and lower the nets, which they do on a regular basis. The sunset picture shows the nets out of the water.
The other big tourist activity in Kochi is to see a performance of Kathakali dance – and, as I did, to watch the performers being made up prior to the dance and then demonstrating some of the facial movements (including lots of very expressive eye movements) which are an important part of the dance. The dance I saw apparently involved the story of Jayantha, son of Lord Indra, and Nakrathundi, maid servant to a powerful demon king. The demon king had ordered Nakrathundi to go to heaven and steal heavenly bodies, but on arrival she caught sight of Jayantha and fell immediately in lust. She disguised herself as a beautiful maiden and approached him with suggestive dance moves. He declined, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer and made a move on him, which enraged him, and in his rage he chopped off her breasts. This was all accompanied by two drummers and a man singing the story in the local language, Malayalam.
However, I spent rather a lot
of time in Ernakulam, as there was a festival going on at a Hindu temple
there.
This involved some dances, a lot
of drummers and horn players, and an increasing number of dressed up elephants
going into the temple each day where they were subjected to the drums and horns,
with the people riding on their backs standing up and holding up various things
(the Hindu equivalent of pom poms??) at certain points.
The elephants were chained, of course, but
thankfully they looked to be well-fed and indeed were provided with palm leaves
to chew on throughout the performance.
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